School had just started in August when Conner began throwing up for no reason. It wasn’t long before the boy also began suffering terrible headaches. In February a 1.7-inch tumor was found in his brain and Conner was set to begin to receive radiation (放射疗法) treatments. Before treatments start, technicians make a white plastic mask (面罩) to keep patients immoveable and protect unaffected parts of the brain while radiation is directed at the tumor.

It’s an unpleasant experience and a frightening time. The doctor Cook decided that the masks could at least be made to look like something fun—maybe Batman or Mickey Mouse. “I started thinking these masks are white and not fun at all for kids,” she told The Greenville News. “I felt like if we could make them a little more fun for them, they might be a little more excited about coming in for the treatment. Because the kids are afraid. While the treatment itself isn’t physically painful, it can cause a lot of anxiety (焦虑). And the treatment is required daily for up to six weeks.”

And the masks really make a difference. “The kids really like them,” Cook said. “It makes what is, let’s face it, a terrible experience, a nice experience because they get to choose something themselves.”

When new children come in for the treatment, Cook finds out what their favorite movies or cartoon characters are. Then she sets about creating the mask by drawing the image she wants onto paper, sticking it with glue, and once it’s dry, she applies the colors using paints. Each child can take the mask home once the treatment ends.

“Coming to the doctor always means fear and pain. I wanted to make it fun,” she said. “The kids really love it. It’s something they enjoy and can relate to. And it fills an interest I have. I get great pleasure from it.”

For those concerned about wrinkly old skin, it might be a creative solution: an elastic(有弹性的) “second skin” that can be smoothed on to make aged tissue look more youthful.

The wearable film, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has shown promise in a series of small experiments where it was applied to wrinkles, under-eye bags and areas of dry skin. When applied to the face or body, the thin, transparent layer sticks to the skin and supports the tissue, making it look and behave like younger skin, its producers claim.

“What we’ve been able to do is create a cream that you can put on the skin, and then when it's on the skin it can actually form, essentially, an elastic second skin,” said Bob Langer, who led the research. Tests in the lab found that the polymer film (高分子膜), which is only 70 thousandths of a millimeter thick, reduced the appearance of wrinkles and under-eye bags, and helped keep moisture (水分) in areas of dry skin.

The layer is designed to be applied in the morning, then peeled off at night, In previous studies, the second skin withstood normal daily wear, and the stresses and strains of exercise and swimming, without falling off or causing irritation. It also survived exposure to rain.

“It's something you can wear for a whole day or longer, depending on the physical forces that get applied to the area where it is worn, "said Daniel Anderson, who helped develop the product at MIT. “You can't tell you're wearing it.”

While normal cosmetics can mask imperfections on the skin, the new coating changes the way skin behaves by giving it the elasticity of young skin. It was developed with help from two companies.

Have you ever imagined that your simple T-shirt could cool you down by up to 5℃ on these hot summer days? Thanks to a recent discovery, the possibility is getting closer. While there are many alternatives that manage to keep the body warm, this amazing invention aims to offer real relief for those who are eager to feel comfortable and fresh in the outdoors on extremely hot days.

Its inventors, engineers Ma Yaoguang of Zhejiang University and Tao Guangming of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, took a completely innovative approach. They designed a special textile that can absorb body heat and re-emit its energy into space as mid-infrared radiation (MIR). This textile cools both the objects and their surroundings through a technique that is known as radiative cooling. Science reveals. This means that even when it looks like you are wearing a regular shirt, you are actually wearing a device that works like a mirror.

Research conducted at Stanford University in 2017 had already managed to cool the wearer by 3℃, but this previous trial was limited. So researchers still need to test the new approach to determine how effectively the new fabric cools while the wearers are standing or walking, and not directly facing the sky, like in their trials. They also need to examine and measure how well it works when T-shirts are not in close contact with the skin.

Inventors Yaoguang and Guangming are now looking out for textile manufacturers and clothing brands that are interested in using their fabric. They estimate that the new material will increase clothing manufacturing costs by just 10 percent. “We can make it with mass production, which means everybody can get a T-shirt and the cost is basically the same as their old stuff,” Yaoguang said.

So if you are an athlete or simply someone that has to deal with the extremely high temperatures, be patient because your days of feeling hot and bothered may be coming to an end!